Corporate Partnerships Lead - 0.6 FTE  

Contract : 

• 12 months fixed term; 
• 0.6 / 22.2 hours per week; 
• Remote, home-based but with requirement to travel to in-person meetings when required.

Salary: 

• £49,844 (FTE) pro-rata £29,906 
• Plus £312 working from home allowance 

Reports to: Head of Fundraising

Purpose of the Role: 

Voice 21 is a rapidly growing national education charity, with a bold new strategy to 2030, and ambitious plans to double fundraised income over this strategic period. We believe there is significant potential for the corporate sector to engage with our work and support our mission to transform education. We are seeking an experienced corporate fundraiser to build our burgeoning programme, unlock exciting new opportunities for support and lead on developing new voluntary income from corporate partnerships. You will champion creative, insight-driven new business development and account management, ensuring partnerships are meaningful, mutually beneficial and aligned with our mission. This role will encompass research and qualification, engagement of potential corporate partners, developing propositions and proposals, pitching and securing new partners and relationship building and stewardship. This role will suit someone proactive and self-motivated, with proven experience in building income from corporate partnerships, who is comfortable working independently, skilled in building relationships at all levels, and driven by Voice 21’s mission.

Key Responsibility of the Role: 

• Work collaboratively across the organisation to build trusted relationships internally, maximise opportunities, and ensure corporate partnerships support our strategic objectives.
• Identify and deliver opportunities to develop new partnerships, securing and onboarding new corporate partners through targeted engagement.
• Build sustainable relationships with corporate contacts, ensuring excellent engagement and stewardship.
• Build a robust pipeline of prospective partners, ensuring a strategic and targeted approach to new business.
• Collaborate across teams to shape and deliver high-value, mutually beneficial partnership proposals that align with organisational priorities. 
• Provide strategic support to the Head of Fundraising and Senior Leadership Team, ensuring where appropriate that senior colleagues are fully briefed and prepared.
• Contribute your sector knowledge, expertise and specialist insights to inform strategy and innovation and assist decision-making.
• Keep accurate records of all interactions with supporters and prospects. 

What you will bring: 

• Proven experience in setting up a corporate fundraising programme, with a track record of securing five-figure+ relationships and raising income to target.
• Knowledge and/or experience of a range of corporate income streams, from strategic partnerships and sponsorships, to cause-related marketing, employee engagement, gifts in kind, etc.
• Strong commercial awareness, with ability to identify and prioritise high-value opportunities. Proactive and assertive, with the ability to recognise and act on new opportunities and the tenacity to secure meetings. 
• Experience of building a portfolio of corporate sector prospects and managing a pipeline of opportunities. Ideally with experience of using Salesforce (or another CRM system) to manage pipelines, track performance and report on outcomes.
• Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to build and maintain relationships at all levels, negotiating and influencing to achieve successful outcomes. Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with confident and engaging presentation abilities.
• Strong organisational skills and the ability to manage multiple priorities effectively.
• Knowledge of fundraising legislation, ethics, compliance, and data protection requirements.
• Self-motivated, comfortable working autonomously, and able to take ownership of own performance. Comfortable in a fast-paced, iterative culture.

What you will achieve: 

• Build a qualified pipeline of corporate prospects.
• Secure new five-figure partnerships.
• Develop tailored partnership propositions aligned to organisational priorities.
• Strengthen stewardship and engagement processes.

Who you’ll work with: Your line manager will be the Head of Fundraising and you will work alongside a fundraising officer. The fundraising team sits in the Operations Directorate.  

Where you’ll work: All Voice 21 staff work remotely and this is a home-based role, with some travel expected to our London office (by Victoria station) and elsewhere for meetings. Occasional overnight stays may be required depending on where you are based. Voice 21 pays all travel and accommodation expenses. 

About Voice 21 

Voice 21 is the national oracy education charity. We exist to empower every child to use their voice for success in school and life. Our work transforms learning and life chances through talk by increasing access to a high-quality oracy education for those that need it most. Follow the links to find out more about why oracy is so vital and the impact Voice 21 has. 

Why work for Voice 21?

Tackle a vital challenge, with great people. Voice 21 exists to transform children' s learning and life chances through talk and we are aiming to be working with 1,800 schools a year by 2030. To reach this goal we recruit great people and give them real responsibility, training and support. 

Output focused culture, with flexible working opportunities. We have an agile and flexible approach, our team can work when and wherever works best to deliver the requirements of their role. As our staff predominantly work from home, we support them to create a workspace and provide technology that enables them to work effectively. 

Real development opportunities. We believe in supporting people to develop the skills they need to be excellent whether this means funding external training, finding a mentor to support them or giving them the time to learn from others in the organisations through our regular CPD sessions. 

Great benefits. 36 days holiday (inclusive of bank holidays and a 3 day Christmas closure period). Holiday entitlement increases linked to length of service, 5% employer contribution to pension, interest-free season ticket, cycle and technology loans, employee assistance scheme. 

Application details:  

Please submit your C.V. and your responses to the following questions:   

1/. Tell us about the highest value corporate partnership that you have personally secured and which you developed from start to finish (max 500 words):

• How did you go about identifying the prospect and opportunity?
• How did you go about developing the relationship before you secured the partnership?
• What were the features of the partnership and what was the value for the charity and the corporate?
• What was your role in developing the pitch and how did you go about landing the deal?
• What was the outcome and/or impact of securing this partnership?

2/. Reflecting on the example you have shared, what did you learn from this experience? And how does that learning show up in your approach to corporate partnerships fundraising? (max 250 words) 

3/. What interests you about Voice 21 and this contract specifically? What do you expect will be the challenges and opportunities in this role? (max 250 words)  

Closing date: 1st June 2026 however we reserve the right to close applications before the stated closing date if a sufficient number of suitable applications is received

Interview dates: TBC 

Questions: [email protected] 

Valuing every voice

Voice 21 believes that every voice should be heard and valued. We are committed to the equal treatment of all current and prospective employees and do not condone discrimination on the basis of age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race or ethnicity, religion or belief, gender identity, or marriage and civil partnership. 

Voice 21 is a diverse and inclusive workplace and we strongly encourage suitably qualified applicants from a wide range of backgrounds to apply and join us. By offering a salary range, we demonstrate our commitment to considering a wide range of applicants who may bring different perspectives and levels of experience.